For years public relations professions and agents have been working tirelessly to ensure their clients, products, brands and personalities are seen in the best possible light no matter the situation.

Marketing and PR reps compiled strategies of communication with details or brand guidelines, messages and statements were consistently distributed to media and the public. Of course, on the whole, they only circulated what they wanted to be known, managing the flow of information.

All was ticking along nicely, Brand-PR-Journalist-Public, or so everyone thought.

Problem is the social media generation are not happy with this arrangement – they want direct contact with their brands, companies and celebrities and some of these are just as willing to share with the masses.

There is now less and less need to organise an opportunity through ‘their people’ and more and more risk that the ‘wrong’ or potentially damaging information is distributed.